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Home My WebLink AboutGRAAC - 2014-10-23Grand River Accessibility Advisory Committee Date: October 23 d, 2014 Location: Waterloo Regional Police Services North Division, Waterloo Present: Greg Moore (Co- Chair), Keri Cameron, Sharon Giles, Carrie Speers, Dorothy Staal, Amanda Moorhead, Paula Saunders, Mike Shipley, Dawn Clelland, Councillor Jean Haalboom (Region of Waterloo), Councillor Jeff Henry (City of Waterloo), Vanessa Lopak (Region of Waterloo), Pam Albrecht (City of Kitchener, City of Waterloo),Julia Sippel (Township of Wellesley), Johanna Ellis (Recorder) Regrets: David Kuhn, Andrew Tufty, Anthony Cashin, Christine Taylor, Laura Master Guests: Christina Martin 1.0 Tour of Region of Waterloo Police Services North Division • This meeting began with a tour of the North Waterloo Regional Police Services building. For the tour portion of the meeting, Constable Andrew Sharen North Patrol Community Resource Office #1094, guided the group around the main floor of the building. He spoke with members about various features of the building, highlighting and asking their thoughts on various accessibility features. Some of the comments made regarding accessibility issues are as follows. • Front Entrance: • Door openers work but look like the type that one should be able to bump with feet. • Opener on inside side for outer doors, same issue, somewhat awkward. • Counters for people to fill in paperwork are rather high. • Accessible service counter; good height but some distance between edge of counter and window could limit privacy. • Washrooms: o Same issue with door openers • Signage: o Signage indicating room name and numbers should be in a consistent location, making the signs easier to find for people who are blind. The Braille on the signage is good. • Parking Lot: • Truncated domes to parking lot should be in a more contrasting colour. • Bollards should be in a more contrasting colour. • After the tour we went into the Community Room to begin the meeting. -10 mril :1 2.0 Welcome and Introductions • Greg Moore called the meeting to order. • Greg Moore welcomed all members; round table introductions. 3.0 Approval of May Minutes and June Agenda • Moved by Mike Shipley, seconded by Carrie Speers to accept the September Agenda; carried • Moved by Dorothy Staal, seconded by Sharon Giles accept the August minutes; carried 4.0 Declarations of Pecuniary Interest • There were no pecuniary interests to declare. 5.0 Follow up Tour Discussion • Constable Sharen described the stairwell, indicating that there is yellow nosing on the stairs for better contrast. • When asked about access to ASL Interpreters, Constable Sharen said that there is an interpreter bureau at the station which coordinated interpreters, however, out in the field it's a little more difficult to get an interpreter. • Constable Sharen was asked about the kind of accessibility training that officers receive. He said that officers used to have more training annually than they currently do, suggesting that this may be due to the amount of overall training they must receive each year. It was suggested that the WRPS focus on training officers for accessibility. • Paula mentioned automatic door opener as noted in the tour. • Domes outside need contrast colour. :1 6.0 Co- Chair's Report • Greg gave a friendly reminder for GRAAC members and guests to knock, raise hand for speakers. 7.0 Staff Report Vanessa • Transportation — focus on Rapid Transit & Grand River Transit. • Vanessa asked the group what their thoughts are on transit. Vanessa provided an overview of the history of the sub - committee, and updated the group on how the current GTSC has been working in the past year. She asked the group if transit is still a priority. Here are the comments; • It is important to the committee that snow is removed from bus stops in a timely manner. October 23rd, 2014 — GRAAC Minutes Page 2 • The committee remains interested in LRT design. They asked when they will have input in the design of LRT, and are curious as to how accessible the stations will be. They request follow up from the LRT presentation last year. • Conventional transit is more accessible than it was 5 years ago. Members have noticed GRT bus operators will ask people to vacate front seats to persons with disabilities. • The Transit sub - committee was created when transit was identified as a priority for GRAAC members. It used to be a separate committee meeting each month. It was changed to a committee -of- the -whole structure when month sub - committee attendance was down and there were few agenda items. The Region has always provided the meeting support for the transportation sub - committee. • It was noted that many of the current GRAAC members are not regular users of transit, however, they do not want to ignore the importance of accessible transit for people with disabilities. • The group supported the idea of keeping transit issues on the GRAAC agenda as they come up. • Vanessa will look into securing one or two meetings each year to focus on transit issues. Pam • Lolita Paroski will be filling the permanent City of Kitchener /City of Waterloo Inclusion Coordinator position. • Dorothy thanked Pam for her dedicated and hard work. • Committee is excited that the voting areas at polling stations are accessible. • Kitchener and Waterloo has accessible voting information on their respective websites. • Domes point toward the middle of the road at King /University, King /Hickory, University/ Albert and in Kitchener at Westmount/Glasgow. • AODA legislation; require to implement tactile warning surfaces indicators (January 1, 2016). • Accessible parking spot has been installed at King /Princess in Waterloo. • Johanna also thanked Pam for all of her hard work and how much of a pleasure it was to work together. 8.0 Councillor's Reports Jean Haalboom (Region of Waterloo) • Pleased to announce Provincial legislation was reintroduced on October 21St, 2014 that municipalities can go ahead and implement bylaws for Pedestrian and Cyclist safety. Here is a quick description taken from the Provincial Website; "Ontario is introducing legislation that, if passed, would help keep the province's roads among the safest in North America by reducing collisions, injuries and fatalities. October 23rd, 2014 — GRAAC Minutes Page 3 If passed, the proposed legislation and supporting amendments to the Highway Traffic Act will make highways and roads safer by: • Increasing fines for distracted driving from its current range of $60 to $500 to a range of $300 to $1,000; assigning three demerit points upon conviction; and adding distracted driving to the existing list of novice driver conditions. • Applying current alcohol impaired sanctions to drivers who are drug impaired. • Introducing additional measures to address repeat offenders of alcohol impaired driving. • Requiring drivers to wait until a pedestrian has completely crossed the road before proceeding at school crossings and pedestrian crossovers. • Increasing fines and demerits for drivers who door cyclists, and requiring all drivers to maintain a distance of one metre when passing cyclists, where practicable. • Helping municipalities collect unpaid fines by expanding license plate denial for drivers who do not pay Provincial Offences Act fines. Ensuring Ontario's roads and highways are safe is part of the government's economic plan for Ontario. The four part plan is building Ontario up by investing in people's talents and skills, building new public infrastructure like roads and transit, creating a dynamic, supportive environment where business thrives, and building a secure savings plan so everyone can afford to retire." Jeff Henry (City of Waterloo) • Election time! Everyone is quite busy. • Recapping successes; • September trail improvements; • Council approved % of a million dollars to pave the Hillside Park Trail. Also adding a crossing; • Spurline trail behind City Hall in Waterloo to Kitchener train station. Lit sections. Joint maintenance responsibilities between Kitchener and Waterloo. Other comments: • Carrie pointed out that the truncated domes installed at the cross walks at King /University, King /Hickory, University /Albert in Waterloo and in Kitchener down Westmount are installed in a way that makes it impossible for a pedestrian who is blind to use the domes to orient themselves to safely cross the road. 9.0 Position Paper Discussion (Christina Martin) • Accessible Parking position paper discussion. • Christina presented a power point and a discussion paper. October 23rd, 2014 — GRAAC Minutes Page 4 • Focus on street parking may be something the committee would like to discuss further. Municipalities must consult with accessibility advisory committee on the need, location and design of accessible parking. Questions /Comments • Place for a phone number (TTY #, email and /or text). • Percentage for accessible parking should be increased to 4 %. • Increase fines for illegal parking in accessible spots to $1,000.00 • Get size and correct measurement down to keep accessible spots consistent. • Wider spots for people in wheelchairs. • Accessibility needs are different depending on which side you get out of the vehicle; road side or curb side. • Christina will create a draft paper from the information gathered. Motion by Carrie, seconded by Amanda to adjourn. Meeting was adjourned at 4:OOpm. Next meeting is at City Hall in Kitchener, Conestoga Room Thursday November 27th, 2014 1:30pm — 4:OOpm October 23rd, 2014 — GRAAC Minutes Page 5